Review: First 8-inch Windows tablet is a device that shouldn’t exist

The Acer Iconia W3: Sometimes you can cut costs too far.

My dissatisfaction with PC OEMs is something I have documented in the past. They offer a confusing array of products and tend to cut corners in the worst ways imaginable. The OEM response to Windows 8 has been to produce a wide range of machines sporting novel form factors to fit all sorts of niches, both real and imagined.

One niche that the OEMs haven't tried to fill, however, has been sub-10-inch tablets. That's not altogether surprising. Microsoft designed Windows 8 for screens of 10 inches or more, and initially the operating system's hardware requirements had a similar constraint.

That decision looked a little short-sighted after the success of tablets such as the Google Nexus 7 and the iPad mini. Accordingly, Microsoft changed the rules in March, opening the door to a range of smaller Windows tablets.

Specs at a glance: Acer Iconia W3

Screen

1280×800 at 8.1" (186 PPI)

OS

Windows 8 Small Screen Touch with Office 2013 Home & Student

CPU

1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760

RAM

2GB LPDDR2

GPU

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator

HDD

32GB or 64GB MMC

Networking

2.4GHz 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0

Ports

1 USB2, micro-HDMI, microSD

Size

219.0 × 134.9 × 11.4 mm

Weight

1.1 pounds (0.5 kg)

Battery

6800 mAh, 2-cell Lithium Polymer

Price

Starting at $379, $429 as reviewed

Other perks

Front and rear cameras, volume rocker

The Acer Iconia W3 is the first—and currently the only—8-inch Windows tablet. That attribute alone makes it in some sense noteworthy. Sadly, it's about the only thing that does.

Spec-wise, this is another Intel Clover Trail tablet, and its internals are basically the same as the devices that launched last year (such as its bigger brother, the Acer Iconia W510). This means 1.8 GHz, dual core, four thread Intel Atom Z2760 CPU, 2 GB RAM, 64 GB flash storage (which with Acer's default partitioning leaves a little over 29 GB usable), front and rear cameras, Bluetooth 4.0, and 802.11b/g/n (no 5 GHz support). There's a micro-HDMI and micro-USB port for external connectivity (a separate cable converts the micro USB port into a full-size one), along with an SD card slot. The tablet has a speaker adequate for notification sounds but little more.

As a result, performance and battery life are similar to what we've seen before. The Iconia W3 comes equipped with full-blown Windows 8, unlike ARM tablets, so it can run any 32-bit Windows application—should you really want to. Clover Trail's GPU performance is such that games and other graphics-intensive programs won't run well, however.

Eight inches of horror

The new bits on this tablet are really the screen and the size.

Screens are important. We spend essentially all our time interacting with devices looking at screens. Cost-cutting on screens is unforgivable, as a bad screen will damage every single interaction you have with the device. This goes doubly so for tablets, where the screen works not only as an output device but also as the primary input device.

The Acer Iconia W3's screen is a standout—because it is worst-in-class. I hated every moment I used the Iconia W3, and I hated it because I hated the screen. Its color accuracy and viewing angles are both miserable (whites aren't white—they're weirdly colorful and speckled). The screen has a peculiar grainy appearance that makes it look permanently greasy. You can polish as much as you like; it will never go away. The whole effect is reminiscent in some ways of old resistive screens.

It's hard to overstate just how poor this screen is. At any reasonable tablet viewing distance, the color of the screen is uneven. The viewing angle is so narrow that at typical hand-held distances, the colors change across the width of the screen. At full arm's length the screen does finally look even, but the device is obviously unusable that way.

Acer has clearly skimped on the screen. I'm sure the panel in the W3 was quite cheap, and that may be somewhat reflected in the unit's retail price ($379 for a 32GB unit, $429 for this 64GB one—putting it at the same price as the 32GB iPad mini, which has a comparable amount of available disk space), but who cares? It doesn't matter how cheap something is if you don't want to use it at all.

This poor screen quality isn't a question of resolution, either. 1280×800 is not a tremendously high resolution, but text looks crisp enough. At 186 pixels per inch, 1280×800 feels more or less OK for this size of device.

The low resolution does, however, have one significant drawback: it disables Windows 8's side-by-side Metro multitasking, which requires a resolution of at least 1366×768. The W3's screen is 86 pixels too narrow, so the Metro environment is strictly one application at a time.

This is an unfortunate decision. The side-by-side multitasking is one of the Metro environment's most compelling features. Keeping Twitter or Messenger snapped to the side makes a lot of sense and works well. I've never used Windows 8 on a device that didn't support side-by-side Metro multitasking before, and I don't ever want to again.

Size-wise, the W3 may be small for a Windows tablet, but it's not exactly small. It's fat. The W3 is 11.4 mm thick. The iPad mini, in comparison, is 7.2 mm thick. The Iconia W3 is also heavy at 500 g; the iPad mini, in comparison, is 308 g. That makes the W3 more than 50 percent thicker and more than 50 percent heavier.

The thickness makes the lack of a full-sized USB port on the device more than a little confusing. There's certainly room for a full USB port, and a full port would be more convenient than the dongle. But for whatever reason, Acer didn't give us one.

The device itself feels solid enough, albeit plasticky. It doesn't exude quality, but it's a step or two up from the bargain basement.

Keyboard non-dock

The W3 also has a keyboard accessory. As is common for this kind of thing, the keyboard has no electrical connection to the tablet. It's a Bluetooth keyboard powered by a pair of AAA batteries. It has a groove along the top that can hold the tablet in both landscape and portrait orientations and a clip on the back that lets you use the keyboard as a kind of screen protector.

Enlarge/ The keyboard has a basically sensible layout and a so-so feel.

The keyboard has to be manually paired to the tablet. It's more or less full-size, with a reasonable key layout. It's a typical mediocre keyboard. The feel is a little on the squishy side, lacking the crispness of, for example Microsoft's Type Cover for its Surface tablets. It's better than any on-screen keyboard, and to that extent it does its job. But it's a long way from being an actually good keyboard.

Enlarge/ If this looks ungainly, it's because it is. The keyboard doesn't hold the tablet upright enough for portrait orientation to be worthwhile.

The groove does hold the tablet up, and on a level surface the unit doesn't topple over, but it's not as satisfactory as some of the hinged keyboard/docks we've seen on other devices. Tilt the base while carrying it or using it on your lap and the tablet is liable to fall out.

Enlarge/ Docking the tablet into the keyboard. It protects the screen, sure, but I worry I would lose keys.

Couldnt agree more. I picked one up a few days ago at Staples, it went back the same day.

Oh and... should this read Acer?

"Asus has clearly skimped on the screen. I'm sure the panel in the W3 was quite cheap, and that may be somewhat reflected in the unit's retail price ($379 for a 32GB unit, $429 for this 64GB one—putting it at the same price as the 32GB iPad mini, which has a comparable amount of available disk space), but who cares? It doesn't matter how cheap something is if you don't want to use it at all."

Couldnt agree more. I picked one up a few days ago at Staples, it went back the same day.

Oh and... should this read Acer?

"Asus has clearly skimped on the screen. I'm sure the panel in the W3 was quite cheap, and that may be somewhat reflected in the unit's retail price ($379 for a 32GB unit, $429 for this 64GB one—putting it at the same price as the 32GB iPad mini, which has a comparable amount of available disk space), but who cares? It doesn't matter how cheap something is if you don't want to use it at all."

I was going to post the exact same thing. I am surprised this was not caught by the editors.

With devices like this I cannot help but think of the engineers that designed it.

Personally I would have a very hard time being happy about having worked on a device as bad as this one. Either it was marketing types that choose the worst parts/designs possible, or the engineers really care nothing for what they create.

I must say I hadn't, I have a dedicated ereader for that purpose. I can see why a smaller size would be preferable for that. However for browsing, games & watching video, bigger has to be better (up to a point of course).

And as this is an intel device, it will support legacy desktop apps, which will badly suited to this screen size. Just imagine Visual Studio!

I think the side by side app restriction will be removed with win 8.1 since it allows more flexible split screen with normal mode apps (as opposed to sidebar mode) allowed to narrow to 600(500?)pixels.

I got the 32gb model on sale at Office Depot for $299. At that price point, I love it. Sure the screen doesn't look great, but it's nowhere near a deal breaker for me and I wouldn't want the device to be any larger. Rumor is that Acer is prepping a new version with a better screen, but sub-$300 for a Windows 8 tablet that comes with Office isn't bad if you accept that you're going to have some tradeoffs.

I got one of these tablets for free at the BUILD conference. As the article states, It is hard to put into words how bad the screen is. I do NOT want to use it as a tablet - and I didn't even pay for it. On the other hand, Windows 8.1 helps a lot with the screen real estate issues. Things scale a lot better and portrait mode is very nice to use. This makes me hopeful for 8" Win 8.1 based tablets in the future, but Acer clearly cut corners on the display on this one. So far I've only really used it for eBooks, which it is OK for.

I have been trying so hard to like this thing. It's lightweight, surprisingly powerful, and a perfect form factor for casual reading, while still being usable in a pinch (thanks to the bizarre-if-functional dock) for writing or even light coding. It can happily drive a projector or monitor, making it a great tote for presentations. It ought to be a decent Windows answer to the iPad mini, and an excuse for me to tailor apps to the 8" form factor.

The problem is that, as Ars noted, the screen is so insanely bad that it literally gives me a headache. I cannot begin to fathom what on Earth the executives at Acer were thinking when they decided to go with this screen. It turns what could be a pleasant, if cheaply made, tablet into something unusable. It's not even just the screen per se: I can't tell if it's the kind of glass used or what, but there's a perpetual blurry moire pattern of hell that sits between you and the content, as if there were a thin sheen of oil across the screen at all times.

I get that Metro has a chicken-and-egg situation right now, and I want devices in this form factor to succeed so that at least the hardware isn't the problem. But if this is what we should expect for 8" Windows tablets, count me out.

It's a Windows 8 SKU that is, I believe, currently unique to Acer; the license documentation calls it "Windows 8 Small Screen Touch with Office 2013 Home & Student."

I have bought an ASUS VivoTab Smart about a month ago, and it came with the same SKU, with full Office.

Weird. It has the Small Screen SKU? It surely shouldn't, as it's a 10.1" device, no?

Yes, this is not a small screen device according to Microsoft. Still after I entered the serial from the license card to the preinstalled office, it has been activated (Windows and Office has the same serial number?). I think it does not come with Office on every market.

I got the 32gb model on sale at Office Depot for $299. At that price point, I love it. Sure the screen doesn't look great, but it's nowhere near a deal breaker for me and I wouldn't want the device to be any larger. Rumor is that Acer is prepping a new version with a better screen, but sub-$300 for a Windows 8 tablet that comes with Office isn't bad if you accept that you're going to have some tradeoffs.

You're using 8.1, on 8 it didn't work because of the inflexible split, so the 80% side would have been under spec.

I really am interested in this type of thing when devs get their act together and start supporting portrait mode. As awkward as it is on a 16:9 device, I find myself using portrait on the Surface. It's especially handy for editing portrait photos or browsing the internet.

With devices like this I cannot help but think of the engineers that designed it.

Personally I would have a very hard time being happy about having worked on a device as bad as this one. Either it was marketing types that choose the worst parts/designs possible, or the engineers really care nothing for what they create.

Marketing doesn't choose parts. Business strategists discover that their company *must* compete in a certain market segment at a certain price point.

"Look at Apple and Google/Asus - they're making money hand over fist with small tablets. We have to get us some of that. Go and build me a tablet that is no bigger than 8", runs Windows 8, and costs no more than the iPad Mini/Nexus 7. Immediately! No, yesterday!!"

And that's where the crux lies... with the Nexus 7, Google and Asus found a great niche, Apple generally (not always) doesn't give (much of) a crap about niches but goes off building what they believe users will (and generally do) crave.

Acer, along with many other hardware firms, builds (many of) their wares *to* a budget, whereas the companies that build outstanding products build them for their *users* first and towards a certain budget second.

I got the 32gb model on sale at Office Depot for $299. At that price point, I love it. Sure the screen doesn't look great, but it's nowhere near a deal breaker for me and I wouldn't want the device to be any larger. Rumor is that Acer is prepping a new version with a better screen, but sub-$300 for a Windows 8 tablet that comes with Office isn't bad if you accept that you're going to have some tradeoffs.

What a shame. I have a W700 and the screen is *great.* Costs a trifle more though.

The W700 is wonderful, and actually worth the price in my opinion, but it's in a different niche. The W700 competes against the Surface Pro and the MacBook Air; the Iconia W3 competes against the iPad mini/Nexus 7. The price might be right for that space, but the build quality kills the product.

And that's where the crux lies... with the Nexus 7, Google and Asus found a great niche, Apple generally (not always) doesn't give (much of) a crap about niches but goes off building what they believe users will (and generally do) crave.

Acer, along with many other hardware firms, builds (many of) their wares *to* a budget, whereas the companies that build outstanding products build them for their *users* first and towards a certain budget second.

But that's the sad part. This isn't a budget item compared to an iPad mini. In fact, it's basically the same price at $429 for roughly 32GB of usable storage. And it's not like Apple is known for their razor slim margins. There isn't really any excuse for Acer to not be in at least the same ballpark as Apple with respect to screen quality. Well, I suppose it isn't really Acer's fault. I have no doubt that Intel and Microsoft are sucking up relatively large portions of the build cost for CPU and OS compared to iPad or Android tablets. That's something the Win8 partners are going to have to address if they really want to succeed in the tablet market.

With devices like this I cannot help but think of the engineers that designed it.

I have to wonder if this wasn't a case where the VP comes to the engineering department one day and tells them that he just got this amazing deal on a few thousand 8" screens from his buddy, and that they need to turn them into a product. The engineers get a sample and realize how bad the screen is and just halfass the rest of the product, grabbing one of their existing Win8 tablets and just cutting corners until everything fits in the case.

The Win8 users aren't as picky right, I mean they're using Win8.

One thing I don't understand. According to the article Ars reviewed the 64GB model and discovered that it had 29GB available. How much space can possibly be left on the 32GB model when you get it?